Anti-Corruption

Establish or strengthen laws or regulations on asset and interest disclosure, which should include: what information can be made public, who must disclose their assets and interests, and the scope of assets and interests to be disclosed. A law should also mandate an institution or agency to collect and publish the data.

• Require disclosure first from the most senior-level officials, elected officials, and members of the judiciary. As capacity allows, apply regulations to more public officials who hold high-risk positions and their close family members. (See Section 5, Table 1, in the Australia Public Service Values and Code of Conduct for an example of a systematic description of high-risk positions.)
• Broaden requirements to include disclosure of the asset and interest types at most risk for corrupt activity (such as financial, moveable and non-moveable, and in-kind benefits), as well as liabilities and conflicts of interest. This should include disclosure of board memberships, secondary employment, shareholder interests, and beneficial ownership of any assets at home or abroad.
• Increase the regularity of submissions. Require officials to disclose conflicts of interest as they arise rather than only at set intervals.

Create an oversight body with investigative and sanctioning powers to verify asset and interest disclosure data, enforce regulations, and/or receive complaints from the public.

• There are different models for this. In some countries, such as Paraguay, the supreme audit institution is legally responsible for monitoring and verifying submissions. Other countries may assign relevant anti-corruption bodies to take on the oversight role, like in Ukraine and Indonesia.

Require the oversight body to regularly report to the legislature and public on fulfilling the asset and interest disclosure requirements.

Verify submitted information using a risk-based approach. To do so, the oversight body’s mandate must include the legal right to access other government records and private sector information for verification purposes.

• Create channels of cooperation between the agency in charge of collecting and verifying data and relevant agencies, such as tax authorities or financial intelligence units that can assist with verification.
• Use globally or regionally interoperable unique identifiers for data to enable better data sharing internationally and strengthen channels of cooperation and data sharing with other countries.

Require the publication of asset and interest disclosure data for monitoring by civil society, journalists, and other interested members of the public. Data should be free, machine-readable, and available in bulk download.

• Publish as much information as possible. Protect sensitive information only when necessary and explain why such data cannot be made public.
• Conduct outreach and training to increase the capacity of public officials and non-state actors to understand and use asset and interest disclosure data.

Ensure data is updated regularly, and make historical data available to allow monitoring for changes over time.

Create one online system to streamline submission of asset and interest disclosure data, and ensure system administrators are well-equipped to assist those submitting information, such as in Ukraine.

Make asset and interest disclosure data interoperable with other datasets, including data on lobbying, political finance, land ownership, beneficial ownership, and public procurement to ensure oversight mechanisms can cross-check data.

• Create unique identifiers for individuals who submit declarations that can be used across datasets.
  Consider introducing automatic red-flagging on conflicts of interest for high-risk areas such as public procurement, like in Romania’s PREVENT system.

Provide timely and adequate responses for verification of specific information when journalists or members of the public request additional information to which they are legally entitled.

Establish and enforce penalties or sanctions for non-compliant public officials, for non-submission, or the submission of false or incomplete information.

• Penalties should be proportionate to the level of offense, including consequences for non-compliance and falsification of information. For example, a judicial vetting process in Albania, which included an assessment of asset disclosures, led to the dismissal or resignation of over 100 magistrates between 2017 and 2020 due to misconduct.

Create a complaint mechanism for the media, civil society, or interested members of the public to request verification of certain information. The government body responsible for the information should investigate and respond to all requests in a timely manner.